My Brother's Keeper
by AnimationGirl
Summary: In the night after Tai Lung's defeat, Tigress finds something, someone, who leaves her with the question whether what is strongest; her hate or her mercy. "You turned away from him, Tai Lung! Everything he taught you; you forgot it and turned against it! You broke his heart! And he broke mine."


A/N: Here I am! With an one-shot I bet none of you ever thought I would make. But here I am, pretty excited to hear your thoughts about it!

**Important!** This story is dedicated to my friend, NJ7009! Thank you for supporting me no matter what and for being there whenever I need to talk with you! I know we haven't met each other in real life yet, but you are one of my best friends! Hope you'll like this story!

Another note; this story was written while hearing "Begin Again" by "Measure". It fits perfectly.

I do not own Kung Fu Panda.

**My Brother's Keeper**

She was tired but could not sleep. Her ribs were still throbbing in pain after her fight with Tai Lung, but she had not visited a healer yet; she was simply too exhausted to do it. Turning over to lie on her side, she stared into nothing.

It was over. It was hard to believe it, but it was true. No more threats; at least for right now.

And her master was still alive. Her friends were still alive.

She was still alive.

But as the Jade Palace rested after the battle, she could not sleep. Why? She was tired, exhausted. And she was supposed to be it.

Then why could she not sleep?

Deciding that she needed air, maybe because the palace suddenly seemed too small, Tigress quietly left her room, silently closing the door behind her. The night's cold wind would be great for her. Sometimes she could feel like the walls were strangling her.

She would then wonder if it was because of old, hidden memories, or because she was simply tired.

While the palace remained sleeping, Tigress stepped outside. As her mind was busy with controlling thoughts about the future and her own destiny, Tigress' legs led her to the bamboo forest that surrounded the valley.

He was lying in a heap when she found him.

As she struggled carrying him, she tried to find the reason of why she was doing this. But each time she could not argue well enough to agree with herself about it.

When she finally reached the hut, she did not have the strength to close the door behind her. The day had not been good against her, and carrying Tai Lung really did not help her when it came to being tired.

Tigress roughly lay down the snow leopard on the old bed; he landed with a grunt. Resting against the wall, Tigress panted, trying to understand what had just happened. It did not make sense.

Why was he still alive?

Looking closer, she once again saw his wounds. Flesh was burned and bones were broken. But he was breathing.

Why was he still breathing?

Realizing that she needed to patch him up, Tigress walked towards the open door with stiff legs. Leaving him alone in the abandoned logger's hut, Tigress ran the way back to the Jade Palace.

It was first when she was about to live the palace again, that she realized she was supposed to tell her master this. As his loyal student it was her duty.

That was why she felt hollow when she walked back to the hut without saying a word to anyone.

* * *

"_Tigress, this is Tai Lung," Shifu said as he presented him for the cub. "My other student." _

_As he stood there, his tall body and crossed arms, Tigress felt fear take over her heart. She stared at him, mouth falling slightly open in awe. _

"_Who's that?" he asked, not her, but Shifu. _

"_The one from Bao Gu Orphanage," the master said. "I told you about her yesterday." _

_The snow leopard. "Oh, yes. The orphan." _

_Tigress flattened her ears to make herself even smaller. _

_Master Shifu flinched a bit, but then pushed the tiger cub forward, towards Tai Lung. "Show her respect as your fellow comrade." _

_Tai Lung looked from the tiger back to his master. "She's a cub!" he exclaimed. _

_Shifu nodded. "But so were you. And I am going to train her along with you." _

_Tigress watched in fear as the snow leopard seemed to shake over his whole body. But he then relaxed, and then kneeled down to meet her glace. His golden eyes seemed dark. "Welcome to the Jade Palace," he sneered and then turned around to leave the Hall of Warriors. _

_First when he was gone, Tigress realized she had not talked to him yet. _

* * *

Five days later he woke up.

While he had been asleep, she had bandaged his wounds. And, as she understood he too needed food, she had also been feeding him. When she had been holding the spoon, she felt so pathetic that her paws sometimes would start to shake.

Doing something without purpose was worse than doing nothing.

When she asked herself why she was keeping him alive, she told herself that it was too cruel to let him die. Alone. Let him rot up.

Besides, she did not want to see Shifu's reaction if he found his body.

No, it was better like this. To keep him hidden in a hut where nobody would find them. Because there was nothing strange about that… Right…

She used her night to come and check up on him. Her days were used on training.

The result of that; she was so tired that it felt like her bones soon would crumble to dust.

Though, there was a good thing about her exhaustion; it kept her from worry as she did not have the strength to think of anything else than her daily tasks.

So when he opened his eyes, she struggled to keep her own open.

Tai Lung groaned, moving his massive body as he woke. His neck cracked when he turned his head to look at her. Eyes widening in surprise, he said with a hoarse voice, "Looks like the panda needed more than the Wuxi Finger Hold to kill me."

Tigress could not agree more. But instead of answering, she turned her back to him.

Tai Lung groaned again as he tried to sit up.

"Could you just stay down?" Tigress asked him harshly. "Because I am not sewing you up again."

He looked at her with an expression she could not read. "Where's the panda?" he asked her, his voice getting stronger.

"Not here."

"Where are we?"

"Away from the palace."

His expectations were proven to be wrong. "And you are alone?"

She did not answer, but she could not have said 'yes' more clearly.

"Why?"

"I found you," she answered. "The others do not know." She rose from the chair she had been sitting on. "You'll stay here," Tigress told him. "I'll be back tomorrow."

As she left, he fell asleep again.

* * *

_She guessed she was not supposed to hear them talking. But being a tiger, she had good ears. _

_That was why Tigress heard Shifu scolding Tai Lung while she was in her room, making a new domino pattern. It was her first night at the Jade Palace, and so far it had been everything but calm. _

_The place was new, strange. _

_Big. _

_How was she ever going to fit in? _

_It did not help that Tai Lung's mood still had not changed. He had even skipped dinner to avoid her. _

_But now Shifu had gotten enough. _

"_She will be staying here," he told his oldest student. "Make it easier for both of you and apologize to her." _

_Tigress tried to ignore it and instead focused on her dominoes. Some seconds later, the door to her room became opened with such a force that the dominoes tilted, falling over each other while destroying the pattern. _

_In the doorway was Tai Lung. _

_Tigress quickly stood up, bowing. _

_Tai Lung glared at her. "Good evening." _

"_Good evening, Master Tai Lung." _

_He then moved his glance to stare at the dominoes. "What's that?" _

"_Dominoes. Shi… Master Shifu trained me with them." _

_He snorted. "Well, you aren't going to need them anymore," he said, thinking about how stupid the training hall would look if there lay toys on the ground. _

_She did not answer, so he kneeled down and picked one of. Holding it up in front of his eyes, he stared at it as if he had never seen one before. _

_Tigress had started collecting the rest of them, thinking that he did not like them and it was best if she put them away. She did not want to anger him even further. _

"_What are you doing?" he asked her. _

"_I…" _

"_I thought you were playing." _

_She looked at the ground. "But they fell…" _

"_Then begin again," Tai Lung said and threw the domino at her. She gracefully grabbed it, and he lifted his eyebrow in surprise. "Night, kid," he said and backed out of the room. "First training day tomorrow." He grinned. "Better be ready." _

_When he had closed the door, Tigress stared at the domino in her paw. _

_She then began again. _

* * *

Tigress did return the next night. When she arrived, Tai Lung was sitting up.

So he was still as stubborn as always.

"How long have I been here?" he asked her when she granted him a piece of bread.

"Nearly a week," Tigress answered with a monotone voice. She placed herself in the chair, closing her eyes as she rested her tired head against the wall.

Tai Lung watched her closely. "You look like the panda sat on you too."

She snorted, but did not open her eyes. "Funny."

"Trust me; you don't want to try it."

For a moment, she just sat there, so quiet. Then she growled, "Do you mind dropping your façade?"

"Oh, like you are the one to say that."

In a flash, her eyes became opened. "I remember what happened on the bridge, Tai Lung. And you definitely weren't acting like you are now."

"Neither are you."

"I am tired. What is your excuse?"

He glared at her. "So you dragged me all the way from the forest because you were tired?" He was mocking her, and they were both aware of it.

"Do you want a fight, Tai Lung?"

"Not really. Not again." He straightened his back. "You have improved," he told her. "Almost had me there at the bridge."

She looked away from him, not wanting to remember that day.

"A shame he did not teach you the good tricks."

Tigress turned her head at him again, and pulled back her lips as she snarled, "I was perfectly able of defeating you there."

He glared back. "Sure. When the panda can't defeat me, then how should you?"

Her only answer was a growl.

Tai Lung suddenly let out a dark laughter. "We were both so pathetic when it comes to that," he told her.

She raised an eyebrow. "What?" she hissed.

"The Dragon Scroll. An old turtle denied me it. And with you, it was a fat panda that stole it from you."

Tigress' paws turned into fists. "You done?" she asked him coldly.

He looked away from her. "The Dragon Warrior," he muttered for himself. "A panda! How is that even possible?!"

"He's good," Tigress said quietly. "Getting better every day."

"Seriously?"

She nodded. "Shifu is very proud." She tried to say it with a normal voice, as if she was just talking about the weather.

Tigress failed at doing that.

Tai Lung eyed her. "And you are here?"

"Yes."

* * *

_Tigress watched in awe as Tai Lung destroyed the wooden opponent in front of him. Not realizing that she had dropped her jaw, she just continued staring. _

_Shifu had told her that she could start the training with watching the older student; then she would see what she, one day, would be able to do. _

_Tai Lung had decided to ignore her. It was the first time his master had brought a kid into the training hall. _

_Honestly, he had no idea of why she was here. Was she not supposed to play with dolls or such? _

_But finally he had gotten enough and turned around the glare back at her. It was first when the cub lowered her glance, that he realized how good her admiration felt. _

_He sighed when he watched her. This was a training hall, she was supposed to train. _

"_Look," he said and kicked the training dummy filled with sand towards her. She had to start somewhere, and that stupid dummy could not hurt her. "Do you know what that is?" he asked mockingly. _

_She did not answer, but stared at him with big eyes. _

"_It's a dummy!" he exclaimed. "You are supposed to kick or hit it! Watch!" He punched it and flew towards her. Though, it stopped just in front of her; her nose touching it. _

_Still no answer from the cub. _

_Growling, he turned around, muttering, "Looks like there is more than one dummy in here!" He did not mean that the cub should hear it, but he just spoke too loudly. Turning back to the wooden warriors, Tai Lung ignored the tiger again. _

_But in the next second something slammed into his back. The dummy. He spun around, pushing it aside. He was about the yell at the cub, when he realized that she still had her leg lifted after having kicked it. _

_It had flown the whole way until it hit him. _

_Straightening up his back, he crossed his arms. "That's training," he told her. _

"_So I did it right?" _

"_Maybe you should avoid hitting people with them, but yes, that was a good kick." _

_She grinned happily. "Thank you, Master Tai Lung." _

"_You can drop the 'Master' part. If Shifu is right, then I'll have to get used to you," the snow leopard said, but not as coldly as the former night. _

"_Okay, Tai Lung." _

_And suddenly she was walking towards the wooden warriors. Hit by panic, Tai Lung grabbed her tail and pulled her backwards, away from them. _

"_What are you doing?" she exclaimed. To Tai Lung's joy she actually looked angry. It was nice to see that the cub did have some temper. _

_He leaned himself against one of the wooden warriors. "You don't think you can handle these, do you, kid?" _

"_I… I don't know." _

"_Well, Shifu would have my tail if I let you get beaten up on your first training day. So," he kicked the dummy back towards her, "let's start with something a little more easily." _

* * *

"What now?" she asked him.

"What what?"

Tigress did not look amused. "You can soon walk again. And I don't want to feel responsible if you assassinate the Dragon Warrior in the night."

His whispers moved. "You think I'll fight him again?"

"You have tried taking the Dragon Scroll twice. Why not try for the third time?"

"Are you suggesting me to do it?" he asked her slyly.

"Of course not," she hissed. "But if you try something stupid, who do you think they'll blame?"

"Me."

She rolled her eyes, something she had not done in a long time. "Yes. But I was the one who allowed you to do it."

"Allowed and allowed," he hummed. "If I really tried to storm the Jade Palace, then you would not be able to stop me."

"You are underestimating me."

"I am the oldest," he told her. "And the one who has trained for the longest time."

"You spend the last twenty years in prison," she reminded him, "while I continued training."

He felt like she was challenging him and said smugly, "And yet you could not defeat me."

She stood up with such a force that her chair fell back. "I saved your life, Tai Lung!" she growled. "Even though you did not deserve it!"

"Why so angry, Little Sister?" he mocked her.

She walked even closer. "You never got it! That's the worst of the all!" Tigress hissed at him. "You had everything that I wanted, and you just threw it away! And for what? A stupid, blank scroll!"

"Don't think you would not have done it!" he growled back.

"I have already been in your situation, Tai, and look at me! I did nothing that I regret! I could have killed the panda if I wanted, heck, I could have killed Shifu! But I did not! And do you know why?!"

"Because you are such a little Goody Two-Shoe?" he taunted her.

"Because I actually think!" she hissed. "When you lost your temper… When you made the wrong choice… You did not only destroy your own life, Tai Lung! You destroyed mine!"

She smacked the door behind her when she left.

* * *

"_Tai!" Tigress called. "Wanna train with me?" _

"_Not now, kid," he answered as he walked through the halls. Though, the tiger cub kept following him. _

"_But you promised," she reminded him, "yesterday!" She looked around and realized what he was heading towards. "And you are going to the training hall right now!" _

"_Yes, but you are not invited." _

_She raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?" _

"_I have to train. You are distracting me." They stood in front of the training hall. Tai Lung turned towards her, then pushed her away so he could close the doors and disappeared behind them. _

_Tigress tried to open them, but only found out that he had locked them. "Tai!" she shrieked, punching the doors with her fists. "Shifu said I should train too!" _

_But his only answer was the sound of wood that broke. _

_Growling, Tigress continued kicking the door. "Is it because of tomorrow?" she called, but he still did not answer. "Of course Oogway will choose you! You don't have to be nervous!" _

_The months in the Jade Palace had truly helped her self-worth, and Tigress would spend her days training and laughing with Tai Lung. He was no longer scary, but was like a big brother to her. _

_She knew about his dream about being the Dragon Warrior. And she also knew that Oogway would decide whether he would be it or not tomorrow. _

"_You will be the Dragon Warrior, Tai!" she yelled. "Why should he say anything different?" _

_But the doors remained closed, and in the end Tigress gave up and started meditating instead. _

* * *

He was surprised to see that she came back. Coughing embarrassed, he remained on his bed. "Good evening," he said.

She gave him a dark glare.

"Silence treatment?" he asked her. "You should know that it won't work on me."

"In a week, Tai Lung," she told him coldly, "then you will be able to take care of yourself. And when that happens, I want you to leave the Valley of Peace. And don't come back."

He watched her as she placed the tray with food on the floor. "You changed your mind," he said slowly.

"You tried to kill him," she said slowly.

"Don't say he didn't deserve it," Tai Lung snarled. "Admit; Shifu is an idiot."

Tigress glared at him, her ice cold eyes seeming calm. "You don't even know!" she hissed. "You have never tried what I went through!"

"He changed."

"Of course he did! You betrayed him, Tai Lung! When you went crazy-"

"I was never crazy."

She glared at him. "Then what do you call it? You killed people! Your own valley! The home you were supposed to protect!"

The snow leopard stood up, so much taller than her. "It was mine!" he growled. "The scroll! I worked for it! It was my destiny!"

"No, it wasn't. It is the panda's!"

"It wasn't just the scroll!" he exclaimed. "You should have seen him, Tigress! Standing there! Looking at him with those eyes! But did he open his mouth? No! He turned his back to me and walked away! All my dreams, crushed, and he turned away from me!"

He was looking down at her, and she pushed him away by hitting his chest. "You turned away from him, Tai Lung! Everything he taught you; you forgot it and turned against it! You broke his heart!" She paused before continuing, "And he broke mine."

"So?" He threw his paws. "Shifu is a jerk. He has always been one and he will always be one."

"He is your father!" she hissed.

"'Was'," he corrected her. "And after what I believe then he _was_ your father too."

"Not anymore," Tigress told him. "All because of you." She looked directly into his eyes. "You were so lucky," she said quietly. "You had everything I ever wished for. And then you threw it away. Like it didn't matter."

"You think I wanted to rot up in prison in twenty years?"

Tigress shrugged. "It seems like it, since you did not have trouble with ruining everything at that time."

"What do you want?" he asked her. "An apology?"

The tiger seemed to be shaking of anger. "I hate you." She spat out the words slowly.

"Then why saving me?"

"I don't know," she told him.

"That brings us nowhere, kid."

* * *

"_Tai!" Tigress screamed, trying to understand what was happening. But everything was smoke and screams. The tiger cub had not heard Oogway's decision but she could figure it out by seeing the destroyed village. _

_Where were Shifu and Oogway? Apparently at the Jade Palace, and now Tigress was alone as she tried to find her big brother. "Tai!" _

_And then she saw him. Throwing a villager, an innocent pig, aside, he was standing right in front of her. In the start he did not see her. _

_But she saw him. _

_She saw his claws, his burning eyes, his trained body that was busy with destroying their home. _

_Monster. _

_The word that had haunted her in the orphanage came back for full force. _

_She had always wondered what it really meant, as she had accepted it. Believed that it was just what she had been. _

_Now she saw what a true monster was like. _

_She stumbled backwards, staring at him with eyes widened in fear. _

_He turned his head towards her, snarling, nearly leaping at her. Then he narrowed his eyes as he recognized her. Tigress stood frozen when he turned around to run towards the Jade Palace. _

_Tigress then fell to the ground and cried. _

* * *

He knew something was wrong. She was even more quiet than usual and she did not even stare at him while he ate.

Finally, he swallowed the last bit of bread and asked, "What's wrong?"

She glanced darkly at him, then lowered her glance.

It had taken him time to take his decision, but then he also swallowed his pride. "I apologize."

"Isn't that a bit too late?"

"Just be happy that I actually said it."

"You betrayed me. An apology should not be enough."

He laughed. "Don't be like that, Little Sis."

She hissed. "I am not your 'Little Sis'."

"Really? Since when?"

"Maybe since you attacked the valley. Or maybe when you tried to kill me?"

He waved it off. "A misunderstanding. Besides, I wasn't the first to attack."

"I could not let you attack my home. Not again."

"Really living up to your title are we, Master Tigress?"

She walked closer, her eyes burning. "Last time you went crazy, I lost my brother and my father. The only thing I had left was my home and I would not you take that away from me."

"Maybe it's time to give you something back then."

She sat down on his bed, suddenly feeling tired. "He broke my record today," she said quietly. "Po."

"The panda?"

Tigress nodded. "The obstacle course… He was nine seconds faster than me. The others celebrated it tonight by eating his noodles. Shifu called his progress remarkable outstanding."

"Ohh…" He sat down beside her. "Shifu has never been good at judging people. I am the perfect example of that."

"So? He is the Dragon Warrior and he is better than me. It's just me that has to cope with it."

"If I was you… then I would either have punched the panda's face or destroyed the whole training hall to get Shifu's attention."

Tigress snorted. "Like a little baby."

He raised an eyebrow, happily surprised. "Please, you are still the kid."

Tigress shoved her elbow into his stomach.

* * *

"_Why?" Tigress asked her master, trying to understand. _

"_Tai Lung is gone," Shifu told her with his back turned to her. "Dead." _

_Tigress knew he was lying, she knew that the snow leopard was in Chorh-Gom. That was why she had asked Shifu if she could visit him. _

"_And you should not mention his name," Shifu then told her and started to leave the hall. _

"_But… But I remember him," Tigress called from where she stood. "Father!" _

_He held up a hand to stop her. "Do not call me that anymore, Tigress. Things… Things have changed. And now we need to move forward." _

_Tigress stared at his back with trembling lips. "Yes, Master," she whispered. _

_Then Shifu walked away. _

* * *

Tigress was sneaking out of the palace once again when she saw him.

Shifu.

In a flash he was just standing calmly in front of her.

"Master…" Tigress gasped out. "I…"

"I see this is the reason why you are tired."

The tiger closed her mouth. "I just needed some air," she then told him.

"Every night the last few weeks?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow.

She dropped her jaw again. "You know?"

He nodded. "I know." By the way the red panda was saying it, Tigress understood that he did not only mean about her sneaking out in the nights.

She stared at him in a minute, but then continued her run, leaving him alone by the Jade Palace in the darkness.

* * *

_Tigress was sitting in her room, her paws holding a bunch of papers. Looking at them, she would see a snow leopard. _

_A badly drawn one. _

_But it was her drawings, all made when she had some free time and some colors. She had drawn them. As a family. _

_Now she was staring at the old papers, wondering why it had been so easy to destroy it all. _

_Had Tai Lung really meant it? Had he done it because of her? Because she had been tired of her like everybody else? _

_Was it her fault? _

_No. It was his. _

_They had been a family until he decided to betray them because there was something that he desired more than them. Doing that he had destroyed all she had. _

_That was why she tore her drawings into pieces because he did not deserve to be a part of her memories. _

_When she was not allowed to say his name then why should she even think it? _

* * *

"He knows it," Tigress told him when she arrived. "That you are here. Shifu."

Tai Lung kept looking relaxed. "Of course he does. Do you know how many times I've tried to sneak out only to be discovered by him? It's those darn ears of his."

Tigress ignored it. "He'll ask why I did not tell him. I have no answer."

"Really?" Tai Lung did not believe it. "Tell me, Tigress, why you kept it a secret?"

"Because… I did not want to see their reaction."

"To what? Me being alive or you saving me?"

"Both."

Tai Lung stood up. "Good thing I am leaving, isn't it?"

Tigress could not answer.

"I doubt Shifu will tell the others it. He has a need to keep us two a secret."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, has he ever called you daughter since I left?" She did not answer because he already knew the answer. "And did he ever tell anybody about me? No. He keeps us to himself."

"Where are you going?" Tigress asked him while staring at her own lap.

He shrugged. "A place where I won't be recognized."

"You are not coming back."

"No. But you could try and find me."

He started putting the bread she had brought him into the bag he was taking with him. Tigress sat frozen on the bed.

"I know why you did not die by the Wuxi Finger Hold," Tigress suddenly said.

"Why?"

"Because you needed another chance to begin again."

He turned around to look at her. "Clever thinking, Little Sis."

"And I glad," she told him, "that you did get that chance."

He was quiet for a moment. "Thank you. For saving me."

She gave him a grim smile. "The hardest part was to drag your big stupid body."

"Watch your tongue, kid."

"Why did you change back?" she asked him. "When you woke up it was like I could recognize you again. Why?"

Tai lung shrugged. "I guess it's because I knew that it wasn't my destiny. That big fat panda knocked some sense into me."

"I'm gonna miss you, Tai."

"I'll miss you too, kid." He put the bag over his shoulder. "Don't come back tomorrow."

"Good luck," she whispered to the floor. "Big brother."

* * *

"_Really?" Po asked her. "You have no family?" _

_She glared at him. "It's a part of being an orphan, Po." _

"_But… But I thought Shifu…" _

"_Shifu is my master," Tigress said sternly. "And I have no siblings. That means no family." _

_He looked at her with his deep eyes. "Listen, Tigress, I am sorry…" _

"_Don't be." She rose from her chair. "It wasn't your fault." _

_And she knew she was right because the fault would forever and always be Tai Lung's. _

* * *

Looking over the valley, Tigress realized why she had not told anybody about Tai Lung.

Because they would not understand that she had gotten her brother back. That she had forgiven him…

She could not reveal to them how much he had meant to her.

But now he was gone.

Yet, it was better than when Po had defeated him.

Suddenly she noticed that she was no longer standing alone. Shifu was beside her, his little form gently brushing against her paw.

She looked down at him, then looked into the dark where Tai Lung has disappeared.

They stood like that until they both, together, returned back to the palace.

* * *

A/N: I really loved writing this. It was something new, but it nearly made me cry. I know in all of my other stories, I have made that Tigress came to the Jade Palace after Tai Lung, but now I did it on a new way.

Again, try and listen to the song "Begin Again" by "Measure". It was a huge inspiration.

And finally, again, this story is dedicated to my awesome friend NJ7009.


End file.
